Monday, August 27, 2007

The answer?

"Self discipline is the key. You can’t force a child to become anti-social. It’s all a matter or respect. "Let a child use his or her intelligence creatively, then they’ll respect you and the world around them. "Once you frustrate creative intelligence, you end up with an angry, impotent and anti social society." - from Agatha Christie's 'They Do It With Mirrors'. It might be old-fashioned, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.

The education system in this country stifles children, making them all work at the speed of the slowest, not encouraging those with talent to develop it, you can't win at games etc.
And look at what we've got. You can't blame the parents alone, they were brought up in the same system. We've had about 25 years of all this, plus the Politically Correct lobby that basically said "Throw away all the old ways".

It's time to get things sorted. Start with the politicians who deny that there's anything wrong.
When a child is murdered by another child, they start quoting statistics and say "It's not all children." NO, but look at society and bring back PROPER EDUCATION, bring back APPRENTICES, help children to be good at something creative.

Posted by Anonymous to swanage view at 10:21 AM
Posted by at

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Precisely. I was talking to a 22 year old who said that, at school, there were 10 out of the class who misbehaved all the time, and the remaining 20 who sat there patiently waiting to be taught by the teacher.
The teacher spent all her time trying to get the 10 children to behave, so soon some of them gave up and did whatever they felt like too.



Posted by Anonymous to swanage view at 6:40 PM

27/8/07 8:52 am
Anonymous said...

I don't know if this is relevant, but at what point were children with learning difficulties added back into the main stream?

My niece is 12 and until she moved schools was always told to sit with the unruly child to try to calm him down!



Posted by Anonymous to swanage view at 6:42 PM

27/8/07 8:53 am
Anonymous said...

This government is currently engaged on a policy of inclusion. It is based upon the idealism that all children should be treated equally and receive an equal education.
There is nothing wrong with that view. What is wrong is the idea that this can only come about by forcing all children to attend the same schools with or without disabilities.
Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) are all different and require very different degrees of support. Some children require sensory experiences, many need time to be quiet and collect their thoughts so that they can focus on what is required of them. Some children put so much effort into coping with their particular difficulty that they have already given 100% of themselves by getting to school ready to work.

27/8/07 9:24 am
Anonymous said...

As a parent with a child with special educational needs and also as someone who has specialised in that field professionally I would be concerned if this particular group of children was held responsible for the failings of the educational system which, in my experience, is only as good as the staff within it! That mainstream teachers have such limited training in SEN (1 - 2 days I am told) is an indication as to how seriously we are about meeting such needs. Take it from me, given the right resources and environment any child will benefit from mainstream education. However, staff it with half-committed and inadequately trained staff and the outcome will be less than ideal for all concerned. Off my soap box now!

27/8/07 7:16 pm
Anonymous said...

Precisely, "Given the right resources and environment".
Yet again, the problem is that we have principles dictating how things will be done, without the necessary resources to make sure things are done properly.
Surely it's time to look at the Real World, stop working from idealistic principles, and see how we can use what we've got in the best possible way.

28/8/07 7:58 am
Anonymous said...

What about Modern Maths, introduced and taught by teachers who didn't understand it themselves; phonetic spelling? how about a lack of what children need to learn?
What can you do without the basic building bricks of memory, logic, literacy and numeracy?
Not a lot.
Next time you're talking to a shop assistant who doesn't understand you, it will most likely be because their brain doesn't work the same way.
It's not been trained TO WORK, you see.

31/8/07 7:35 pm
Anonymous said...

7.35 pm you are sounding like a jaded (if not retired) teacher - am I correct?

1/9/07 1:34 pm
Anonymous said...

What it all comes down to is motivation.

I teach in a College of Further Education.

Adults who come to education to learn. Or avoid taking a job!

Aside - learning difficulties, being correct it's actually learning disability. I don't agree with that, we all have a learning difficulty, but not necessarily a disability.

The students - to be correct 'learners' - I get vary from straight out of school - "get a job or go to college", straight out of school and motivated, or retraining after getting things 'wrong'.

In each of the groups all that matters is motivation.

Luckily, I'm motivated, the students who are motivated will pass, the students that I can motivate will pass. The unmotivated that I can't motivate will fail.

The means of teaching will vary from student to student. There is no one answer.

Many of my students are Apprentices - for the original poster - they have a job and attend college one day a week. On this day they learn about there main course, with me they do their 'Key Skills', also known as 'Business Skills', 'Skills for Life' and soon to be known as 'Functional Skills'.

This consists of Application of Number (Maths), Communications (English) and Information and Communictions Technology (ICT).

They also have Tutorials where they learn about drugs, sexual health, racism etc, etc - cue jokes.

All in one day!

Education is a pretty pressured world, but we do get good holidays.

1/9/07 6:26 pm
Anonymous said...

Before you learn anything, you have to have two skills:
Logic and Memory.
When do they learn those?

3/9/07 4:41 am
Anonymous said...

Want to remember when to use the different forms of 'there', 'their' and 'they're'?

there - as opposed to 'here'

their - belonging to, as in 'heir'

they're - contraction of 'they are'

3/9/07 4:45 am
Anonymous said...

Here and there are the simple one, when they can't understand heir, try some humour - strong Dorset accent 'I is a person', so their must someone's. When they cant understand contraction use lazy, tell 'em to slow down - they're going becomes t h e y a r e g o i n g.

As for logic and memory - bear in mind I'm a liberally minded person - pain is a great teacher!
Think child, think flame, think pretty, think touch, think ouch!
Lesson learnt.
Bear in mind that also needs another input to expand and explain.

3/9/07 8:38 am
Anonymous said...

6.26 I think to quibble about whether it is learning difficulty/disability is splitting hairs - the outcome is the same and, as you say, we all have a learning difficulty of some sort. However I am with you 100% on the 'motivation' factor. Give a class a teacher who lacks it (or vice versa) and the outcome is not good. Long may those holidays continue but I for one look forward to the introduction of a Register of teachers. As with other professions, this will go some way to ensuring that its members continue to update their skills and that they also remain fit to practise.

3/9/07 9:52 am
Anonymous said...

For Heavens' Sake! What good would a Register of Teachers do if what they are told to teach doesn't start off with the basics?

You try a group of people nowadays with a simple bit of mental arithmetic, a test of memory like Kim's Game, and some simple logic to show that all animals are not cows, and shudder at the ignorance displayed.

3/9/07 2:52 pm
The Postman said...

Ah ha. I know this one. This is what a cow is.

The cow is a mammal. It has six sides - right, left, an upper and below. At the back it has a tail on which hangs a brush. With this it sends the flies away so that they do not fall into the milk. The head is for the purpose of growing horns and so that the mouth can be somewhere. The horns are to butt with, and the mouth is to moo with.

Under the cow hangs the milk. It is arranged for milking. When people milk, the milk comes and there is never an end to the supply. How the cow does it I have not yet realised, but it makes more and more.

The cow has a fine sense of smell: one can smell it far away. This is the reason for the fresh air in the country.

The man cow is called an ox. It is not a mammal. The cow does not eat much, but what it eats it eats twice, so that it gets enough.

When it is hungry, it moos, and when it says nothing, it is because its inside is all full up with grass.

3/9/07 3:03 pm

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